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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26416030">Dialogue Divine</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warpony/pseuds/Warpony'>Warpony</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Feral Echoes [30]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Critical Role (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>C2e109, Commune with Gods, F/F, Hijinks &amp; Shenanigans, Hinted Beauyasha, M/M, Minor Spoilers, Sometimes You Need To Talk To A Mom, There's A Pumpkin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:54:38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,982</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26416030</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warpony/pseuds/Warpony</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <b>My boy, you have fallen in with a family who has a very persistent and convincing spokesperson. So beloved to Sehanine that she scooped them from the Astral Sea and kept them at her side. She entertains the idea of making that one an avatar in her name. They do nothing but herald your deeds to all that listen and sway us in your favor...</b>
</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Verin Thelyss/Original Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Feral Echoes [30]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711534</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dialogue Divine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>This is fucking stupid, Beau.</i>
</p><p>"It's not. This is genius. I mean how many times have we been stuck in a fight because we haven't been able to reach the ugly bastard cause they decided to <i>fly</i>?"</p><p>
  <i>You're going to literally break your fool monk neck. I'm not doing it.</i>
</p><p>"Do it. Throw her." </p><p>
  <i>Shut up, Fjord.</i>
</p><p>"Yasha will catch me." </p><p>"I... I mean... I'll try."</p><p>"See? And I have Slow Fall so lets just do it."</p><p>"Throw her. Big toss. Lets go. Straight up in the air. Do it.</p><p>
  <i>Fjord. No one ever tells you because you can be so fucking charming, with the swuave and the tusks and the eyes but you're a fucking shit stirrer and you need to stop.</i>
</p><p>"Brunnera. That was an incredibly hurtful compliment."</p><p>The bay roan and blue furred fighter chuffed, ears swishing a bit. Big hands moving as he drew out the symbols of Nein Sign to the others clustered around him. <i>Truth hurts.</i></p><p>"Brunny, c'mon. You know its a good idea. And I'll be fine! I've done way worse than this on accident. At least we've got a fail safe." Beau grinned at Yasha. </p><p>The barbarian smiled back a bit shyly, "A... a um... fall safe..."</p><p>"Ha!" Beau barked, her grin splitting wider. </p><p>Brunnera huffed, one ear flicking unhappily  as he moved up into position of 'catapult' for the monk's little experiment. The firbolg cast his gaze up, one level above, in the tower top garden Verin and Veth watched from over the parapets. </p><p>The fighter sent them a pleading look for help. Verin only smiled sadly and shook his head, hand lifting to sign down to Brunnera <i>'I'm here for the spectacle</i>'.</p><p>The fighter rolled his eyes and sighed, turning back to look towards Beau, Fjord and Yasha.</p><p>"So." Verin laughed softly, looking towards Veth. "How long have Beau and Yasha been together?"</p><p>The halfling rogue chuckled softly, taking a bite from her sandwhich. They really had a nice little spread of snacks to watch the antics below. When she'd heard Beau's rumblings about testing this particular theory Veth had raided every cookie jar in the Xhorhaus to supply a viewing party. "They aren't quite there, yet. Despite the ridiculous amount of flirting."</p><p>"I see. And we all see. But they do not?" Verin smiled a bit more. </p><p>Veth seesawed her hand a bit, chewing another bite from the sandwich. </p><p>"Alright," Verin chuckled softly, "And we do not interfere?"</p><p>"It wouldn't be fair to rob them of the <i>whole</i> experience. Its fun to make them panic a little though. Make 'em think you're gonna meddle. I think they've got it handled honestly." Veth grinned mischievously.</p><p>"Sometimes I wonder if you're an imp or not, Veth Brenatto." Verin grinned. His honey colored eyes crinkling up at the corners and one pointed canine peeking out passed his lip. </p><p>"Good. Gotta keep all of you on your toes." Veth grinned even wider. </p><p>The knight chuckled softly, looking back towards the group below arguing about logistics of just <i>how</i> Beau would get launched into the air. </p><p>"She really is going to get her neck broken trying to show off." Verin sighed.</p><p>"Call a cleric and say a prayer?" Veth shrugged. </p><p>"To who? The Wildmother?" Verin turned a bit to look towards the massive tree behind them. </p><p>"...I thought you prayed to the Luxon or Light or whatever?"</p><p>Verin made a slight face, head tilting back and eyes going skyward. "Right."</p><p>Suddenly the trap door snapped back and Fjord scrambled up. He jauntily trotted over to Caduceus' small garden patch and with barely passing an eye over everything hefted up the largest pumpkin he could manage. Despite the weight of it bowing him a bit he practically skipped back to the trapdoor and with a bit of struggle and scramble disappeared back down it with the pumpkin.</p><p>"Cad's not going to be happy about that..." Verin sighed, breaking a cookie in half.</p><p>"... You don't, do you?" The halfling cocked her head curiously at him, not easily swayed from her curiosity.</p><p>The drow ruffled a hand through his platinum hair, turning to sit against the wall to look towards the tree. He hesitated a moment, working up the words to speak. "I wasn't there like some of the older souls... like the Queen and Dusk Captain... when they found the first fragment of the Luxon. When they had to tear themselves away from the Spider Queen's control. To them it is holy, it anchored them. Anchors so many still. But I've never felt it call out to me or provide a bulwark or show me some great feat on this world that a god could. I have seen what the Storm Lord has done. The Raven Queen. I have watched more work of the Wildmother than any other. But not of the Luxon. I wonder about faith. I have seen the good it's done others. Know that some sought for it when they were in desperate need and found none calling back to them from beyond the Divine Gate... I can be to curious about things sometimes... found myself pathetically a coward to try... afraid to know the answers of such things."</p><p>Verin sighed but couldn't help a small smile that crept across his lips. Veth, for all her ferocity and chaotic nature, was still a mother deep in her core. And all too often Verin found himself in the company of that quiet part of her personality. If asked he'd hardly deny that he craved it on a degree. </p><p>Deirta Thelyss was a powerful politician, sorceress, leader and Umavi. She had been the head of Den Thelyss for centuries with no end in sight. She strummed a web of connections and favors as easily as the Raven Queen did the threads of fate. </p><p>But a nurturing parent... she had not been.  Essek, who had shown ambition, cunning and intelligence and prodigy in the arcane had not only become Deirta's favored son but garnered her attention and grooming for a possible day of taking her place as leader of the den. Albeit at least temporarily until Deirta's next rebirth until some point in the future. </p><p>It had been no gift to have her attention, Verin knew that then and now, but there still was some small bruised part of his soul that so desperately called softly for a mother. </p><p>Veth, wither she sensed it or not, and the knight suspected that some parental intuitive part of her had, had started to fill that void. Verin felt no guilt of betrayal to the woman that had birthed him. </p><p>Deirta had provided for him, ensured he never wanted and was dutifully trained to navigate the minefields of society. But he had proved to be to much like his father. To lacking in ambition or desire for power, barely a wrinkle of magic to his name, to easily charitable and humble. He even failed at being a pawn in a pathetic plan to take control of Den Mirimm to recoup for for all things else he was lacking. </p><p>He had not even the ability to provide an heir to Den Thelyss' long lineage.</p><p>Deirta had all but said that the only good he was to her or the den was to die gloriously in battle against the Empire and enemy. Become a kind of den legend to be talked of briefly at gatherings before being forgotten again for another year. </p><p>No. There was no guilt to find other company as kinder pseudo-parents than his own had been.</p><p>The halfling rogue hummed, thinking as she chewed another bite of her sandwhich. </p><p>"Veth. You must be silent about such a thing." Verin warned. What he'd said more honest and open than he had been with anyone of his own den or family. With his mother or Essek. Even with himself. The only one he had been so viscerally honest with before was Brunnera, secrets traded in the depths of night before battles at the breaking of dawn. </p><p>"What? Why? I thought it was alright to worship anyone you wanted in Xhorhas."</p><p>"It is. All but the Betrayers... but I am trapped by expectation. Until I can fall far enough out of favor or attention of the public the perception of my beliefs matter far more than what they really are. And my country... my people... they need the comfort and stability the Luxon has given them so far." Verin crossed his legs, sitting up to better look at her, "Do you understand?"</p><p>"I do but I don't like it. You won't hear a word out of me." Veth huffed. </p><p>Verin bowed his head to her, muttering a soft thanks. </p><p>"But you should at least tell the others. No one here would judge you for anything like that or if you wanted to pray to someone different or no one at all." </p><p>An orange missle whizzed skyward by the side of the tower in a blur. The object slowing enough as it reach the peak of it's height to be identified. The pumpkin spun a few times in the air before it started to plummet back to the earth. It gathered speed until it was a blur again and disappeared beyond their sight passed the parapets of the tower. There was a resounding, wet crunch that sounded far to much like a body smacking into the unyielding rooftop, followed by a stretch of silence. </p><p>"It'll be fine! Throw me!" Beau demanded. </p><p>Brunnera barked a sound that was half a 'no' and half a snarl that was half muffled by Fjord's own rush of assurances and Yasha’s quiet input.</p><p>The knight cocked his head, smiling a little to himself, looking back up at the tree, "Someone different, you say?"</p><p>"Why not? But after what happened on that island I can tell you just be direct. Turns out they aren't really big on being run around on." Veth hummed, getting to her feet she gave the drow a motherly pat on the head, then scooped up a platter of the pinched cookies. "I'm going to go down and watch this from below. I think it'll be a better show that way."</p><p>Verin smiled a bit, watching her slip through the trap door and out of sight before looking back towards the tree. </p><p>He wondered if this was a miniature of what the Arbor Exemplar looked like. He'd wanted to go to the last seeded tree of Melora so badly. He still did. There were so few places in his native land that were green. Verin's life in the military had allowed him the time to visit none of them. He would have liked to see some place in the Wastes that wasn't charred and desolate. Or someplace in the Empire that wasn't a trampled battlefield. </p><p>This little garden Caduceus had made was the closest he had come. Verin's hand idly swept over the tuffted growth of a bit of moss clinging to the wall at his back. </p><p>Giving a small self-conscious look around Verin sat up and settled himself the way he'd seen Caduceus and Fjord do. Folding legs and settling his hands loosely in his lap. He didn't have any incense but maybe the greenery around him was enough  the drow shut his eyes and tried to relax and calm himself. A soft ripple of a breeze passed over his hair and made the tree above sway gently, playing among the leaves and lanterns.</p><p>Internally Verin carefully opened himself up towards the whisper of a presence. The gently jovial breeze seemed to pause and curl towards him, curious and a bit surprised. </p><p>He wove together a soft prayer before floating it towards Her. The Wildmother. Or at least what he hoped was the Wildmother. He spoke, barely above a whisper. "I know you don't know me. I probably don't have a right to try yo talk to you... I guess I just wanted to see what would happen... I should have actually planned this..."</p><p>The breeze had coiled, matronly and warm in the soothing way a patch of sun warmed stone felt against sore and tired muscles. It made Verin's shoulders sink and relax, slipping into a bit of a coaxed trance.</p><p>Verin dipped his head, almost feeling the press of a hand on his hair. The knight felt his body sink a bit until he felt himself slip into a light trance. He didn't resist, relaxing and letting himself be carried away. Didn't open his eyes but he felt the sway of long grass all around him, Her presence heavy in the space. He could feel the Wildmother's amusement in the ripple of the grass. </p><p>
  <b>How very strange...</b>
</p><p>Verin was a bit surprised to hear her speak; he kept his head down respectfully but his lips pulled up in a slight smile. </p><p>
  <b>You are a curious creature. To speak to casually to a diety not your own, without some bargain or promise to try and garner their attention. Curiouser still that you think you are a stranger to me.</b>
</p><p>"My lady?"</p><p>
  <b>Two of my acolytes within your party have called on my favor for you. To heal you or protect you. Give you a moment of power you would not have otherwise.</b>
</p><p>Verin laughed softly and humbly, "I suppose I didn't think of it in such a way." </p><p>
  <b>I know you well enough, child. You are woven into their fate as they are yours. I am a part of that as much as Kord and Ioun are...as much as that trickster is.</b>
</p><p>"Thank you for your favor and aid my lady. I just ask that you continue to look out over Fjord and Caduceus... and Brunnera even if he's not really yours either." Verin said quietly, keeping his eyes shut, "And thank you for healing him. When he was hurt by the Volstrucker... you saved him... I can't repay you for that. Nothing I have would ever be enough..."</p><p>
  <b>You are a champion of life, as is your mate. There is nothing more sacred to me than that. I will look after you both and when your time comes; see the Raven Queen treats you well. Though, as you say, 'you are not mine'. At least until you decide to chose a patron for yourself if such a thing is in your fate.</b>
</p><p>"You humble me, my lady, to know so many of the Pantheon would treat us kindly."</p><p>She laughed softly, the grass rippling around him. </p><p>
  <b>My boy, you have fallen in with a family who has a very persistent and convincing spokesperson. So beloved to Sehanine that she scooped them from the Astral Sea and kept them at her side. She entertains the idea of making that one an avatar in her name. They do nothing but herald your deeds to all that listen and sway us in your favor...</b>
</p><p>Verin's head came up in surprise, "Mollymauk?"</p><p>For a moment he was slightly blinded by the sunlight lanterns of the Xhorhaus tree. Verin shook his head slightly and blinked a few times until his vision cleared a bit. He glanced around. It was frighteningly quiet compared to the noisy planning that had been going on around him before he'd slipped into the trance. Brunnera was curled up next to him, asleep in the grass. Not touching but close enough that he could touch if the knight chose to reach out. Verin worriedly twisted to look over the edge of the tower but only saw the the faint remains of a smashed pumpkin on the roof  below.</p><p>"No injuries. Just hurt pride." A warm voice rumbled. </p><p>The faint scent of brewed tea drifted over. Caduceus must be settling in for the night in his garden. A soft tread of footsteps and flicker of pink came into Verin's periphery. The drow, turned and settled back to look up at the cleric who smiled back. </p><p>"So... you have been communing." Caduceus said softly, his ears flicking lazily. </p><p>Verin smiled. He really did find the firbolg's perceptive nature endearing. He nodded, speaking quietly. "Not intentionally. Lady Melora wanted a word with me."</p><p>"Oh? Thats nice." Caduceus rumbled, he dipped to hand Verin a small plate with a cup full of tea an a thick slice of pumpkin bread. At least it hadn't gone completely to waste.</p><p>"She's lovely."</p><p>"She is indeed." The cleric agreed, smiling to himself. "Did your talk go well?"</p><p>"I asked her to keep an eye on Brun and you and Fjord, even though I was a stranger."</p><p>"I'm sure she found that amusing. Thats kind of you to envoke her on our behalf." </p><p>Verin nodded, "Evidently I'm not the only one... considering where all of you are headed next I think you'll need all the looking after you can get."</p><p>"I know you want to come with us, Verin." Caduceus said kindly. "I think Essek does as well."</p><p>"It would be to dangerous for all of you in DeRogna's company." Verin said bitterly. "No amount of glamour magic could keep both of us hidden fom her for the whole of the trip. I understand Caleb’s desire to see his homeland freed and this is meant to be a means to an end but I wish only that if you must go on to the frozen north you did so with the support and protection of the Dynasty behind you. We have our own foothold in those islands. I'll make sure that Brunnera has maps and means to find you sanctuary in Vurmas if you need it. Should things with this Assembly witch sour."</p><p>He looked sadly down at the sleeping form for the fighter next to him. Verin reached out and carefully smoothed a few fingers through the fighter's hair. "Make no mistake. If you are gone to long or without word I will come and fetch all of you myself."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Of course I still want this story linked into the campaign! I am going to try to be careful about over lapping and jumping back and forth and make sure we down lose to much of one or the other. </p><p>There are big things they have to do that I have planned and of course they still have alot if campaign left to chase. I'll try not to warp the timeline to badly but I also don't want to put this completely on hold just to keep everything lined up. </p><p>Also just gonna go out on a limb an assume that Deirta wasn't the best mom. Veth has proven more than a few times she's got good, wholesome mom vibes and that is something that Verin would soak up given the chance.</p><p>Hope you all enjoyed! Thank you for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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